


Eight Apologies in Ohio

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Pre-White House (West Wing)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-03-20
Updated: 2005-03-20
Packaged: 2019-05-30 09:19:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15093782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: On the way to Cleveland, CJ discovers how Danny really got his quotes, but it's too late to fix what was broken.





	Eight Apologies in Ohio

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Eight Apologies in Ohio**

**by: Kansas J. Miller**

**Pairing(s):** CJ/Danny  
**Category(s):** Pre-WH  
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Summary:** On the way to Cleveland, CJ discovers how Danny really got his quotes, but it's too late to fix what was broken.  


~*~  
  
        Leo walked down the aisle of the Bartlet for America campaign plane and joined the Governor, who was sitting in the back sipping his coffee. "Good morning, Sir."  
  
        Jed grumbled something inaudible before looking up at his old friend. "You sure leaving this morning is a good idea?"  
  
        Leo was firm. "Josh thinks we need to spend some real time in Ohio. Hollywood likes you better than they like Hoynes, anyway."  
  
        "What is this that I keep hearing about CJ and Roberto Benigni?" Governor Bartlet suddenly asked, his eyes full of curiosity.  
  
        Leo chuckled, a grin crossing his features. "He pushed her into the pool last night."  
  
        "Was he drunk?"  
  
        "No, but CJ was."  
  
        Jed shook his head. "Well, I hope she's talking to Danny Concannon about this morning's Post. It looks like it could be a thing."  
  
        Leo pointed at the front of the plane where the senior staff was gathered. "They're dealing with it."  
  
        "Good," Jed grumped. "If anyone needs me, I'll be asleep."  
  
        Leo sighed heavily as the Governor closed his eyes and shut out the world. The plane taxied down the runway, picked up speed and stormed into the sky. In another three hours, they would touch down in Cleveland.  
  
~*~  
  
        Toby and Sam sat beside one another, waiting for the remainder of the campaign staffers to board the chartered plane. Both men held their own copy of the morning's Washington Post, both nervously awaiting CJ's reaction.  
  
        "So, we're going to get in trouble," Sam stated somberly.  
  
        Toby nodded slowly. "Trouble," he said with a smirk, "is going to get us."  
  
        Sam turned sharply towards Toby. "Can you believe that a guy who works in Housekeeping at a Madison, Wisconsin Marriott really knows how to pick up the phone and call Danny Concannon?"  
  
        Toby slid his eyes back into his head, already anticipating a headache. "Huh. That seems to be what happened."  
  
        Sam sighed heavily. "I never thought for a minute that talking to that guy would result in this," he said, gesturing angrily at the paper. "He just seemed like an interested citizen. But he gave our quotes to Danny!"  
  
        "Yes," Toby muttered. "Yes, he did."  
  
        "The housekeeping guy!" Sam cried. "The guy from the hallway!"  
  
        Toby glared at the younger man. "You know, saying it over and over again isn't going to take away the irony."  
  
        Sam shut up and stared back down at the paper. He was almost halfway through his third read of Danny's story when he felt a hand sharply smack the back his head.  
  
        "Lucy? Ricky? If you please?"  
  
        Toby and Sam exchanged worried glances as they scrambled to follow CJ. Moving part of the way down the aisle, CJ picked out her seat of choice. Once she was settled, she looked up at the standing men and raised her chin. Her voice was calm and soft when she spoke. "I know these quotes are from you guys. First things first, please tell me that you didn't go to Danny Concannon with this."  
  
        Toby's eyes were intense. "No, we didn't talk directly to Danny."  
  
        Faint surprise registered on CJ's face. "Not directly?"  
  
        Sam took a deep breath. "You're probably going to kill us, and believe me, I don't deny that we deserve it, but before you go completely crazy, I want you to know that-"  
  
        "Sam!" CJ interjected, her impatience boiling over as her anxiety began to grow. Had Danny been telling her the truth? "Get on with it!"  
  
        Toby leaned forward. "In Madison, when we left your room after our discussion about Hoynes, Josh went off to find Donna and Sam and I were standing there talking."  
  
        CJ nodded. "In the hall?"  
  
        "Yes. There was a guy passing by - a member of the housekeeping staff. He asked us if we were with the Bartlet campaign. He'd heard us talking about Hoynes, and we had a brief conversation with him. He was really friendly, he seemed really interested in Bartlet, and he even agreed with the things we said to him - but it turns out that he took it to Danny. We were naïve, and it won't happen again."  
  
        CJ took a deep, level breath. She glanced down at the ground, in disbelief. Danny hadn't lied to her; he hadn't eavesdropped from the bathroom - he had gotten the quotes the good old fashioned way: from a source. CJ raised her eyes back to Toby and Sam, her voice soft. "Okay. Thanks, guys."  
  
        Sam was confused. "Wait, you're not going to rip us apart?"  
  
        CJ shook her head, her lips pressed tightly together. She felt horrible; she'd given Danny absolutely no benefit of the doubt. What's more, she very well *could* have been the cause of this leak - she was just lucky this time. She sighed. "No, no. I'm not upset with you guys. Let's just try to be more careful about who we talk to, ok?"  
  
        Sam was about to say something, but Toby caught the dullness in CJ's eyes. As one of her oldest friends, the sadness in CJ's expression was only clear to Toby, and he knew it was time to drop the conversation. Pushing the younger man back up the aisle, Toby nodded at CJ. "Take it easy. We'll talk before landing."  
  
        CJ nodded wordlessly. Landing. The first thing she would do once they were on the ground again was find Danny. She owed him an apology. She probably owed him eight. It wasn't going to be easy to take back the things she said, but as the plane headed east, CJ knew she had no other option, unless she wanted to lose Danny's friendship. A romantic relationship might be completely impossible, but Danny was a good person: something CJ felt that at the moment, she was not.  
  
~*~  
  
        Danny Concannon knew that CJ had been trying to get him alone all day long. A few of his fellow reporters had mentioned that she'd been looking for him, and a number of different times along the way in Cleveland, he'd caught her pleading eyes. He didn't know why he was ignoring her attempts at a conversation; all Danny knew was that he felt hurt, sad, and thrown by what had happened the day before in Los Angeles.  
  
        CJ had completely attacked him, giving him zero opportunity to explain himself - and when he'd tried, she'd laughed off the truth. Danny had always known that CJ was a spitfire; he loved that about her, he loved her passion and the standards she set for herself and those around her. He loved the way she wouldn't take second best, and because of that, Danny knew that nothing with CJ could really ever be easy. But he hadn't expected her to label him a liar, and he certainly hadn't expected her to take everything so personally.  
  
        As Danny stood in the hallway outside of the Cleveland Holiday Inn Bartlet for America suite of rooms, he realized that he should have known. He and CJ were never going to be able to keep their work and their relationship separate from one another. They played for different teams - she controlled the news that he was supposed to write about, and their romance had been doomed from the start. It was just too bad; the attraction that had pulled them together seemed to be the very same attraction that was pushing them apart.  
  
        Finally getting up his courage, Danny knocked on the hotel room door and waited for someone to answer. He had to talk to CJ, and he knew she had to talk to him.  
  
~*~  
  
        "Okay, so the Cincinnati office requested that we stop there if it was at all possible," Sam reported, his mouth stuffed with chips. He crunched down and continued talking. "They have a huge volunteer base, and they said they could get as many as 700 people at a rally."  
  
        Josh walked across the Governor's suite of rooms, a print-out in hand. "Donna spent nearly all day on the phone with Congresswoman Callahan's office. They want to endorse, but she'll only do it if we can pull together a separate event *in* Dayton."  
  
        Toby tossed a pretzel into his mouth, cracking down on it loudly. He glanced at CJ. "Was that your district?"  
  
        CJ looked up from the spread of papers before her. "What?"  
  
        "Callahan?"  
  
        CJ shook back to reality; she'd been distracted all day with thoughts of Danny. "Oh, yeah. That was my district."  
  
        Leo broke in, waving his pen in the air. "Hate to insult the Congresswoman, but Callahan's endorsement alone is not big enough to take us to Dayton. I say we'll be there only if we can turn it into at least half a day."  
  
        Sam nodded, grabbed the bag of chips, and hopped up. "I'll get on the phone and see what else I can put together. Governor, what do you think?"  
  
        Everyone turned to the easy chair where Governor Bartlet was sitting, his feet casually propped up on a stool. He looked skeptically at his staff. "I don't even need to be in the room for this meeting, that's what I think."  
  
        Leo's expression fell sharply. He was getting sick and tired of the Governor's lousy attitude, and it was time to do something about it. Turning to Sam, Toby, Josh, and CJ, the former Labor Secretary sighed. "Give us ten minutes alone. Josh, have Donna start pulling stats for New York's gun speech - Sam needs to round out the final draft. Toby, please call back CNN and tell them we'll have the Governor for Inside Politics tomorrow afternoon. And CJ? Try and get together a voter list for the Dayton district."  
  
        Everyone nodded, agreeing to their assigned tasks. As the group began to disperse, Margaret appeared in the living area of the suite. "Excuse me, CJ? Danny Concannon is looking for you."  
  
        Toby and Sam momentarily stiffened up, and CJ glanced nervously towards the door. She cleared her throat and forged ahead, the first one to make her way out of the room. It was time to make her apologies.  
  
~*~  
  
        As soon as she reached the hallway, CJ cocked her head to the left and began walking in silence. Danny followed, confused, but as he realized that Toby, Josh, and Sam had also come out into the hall, the reporter understood.  
  
        Coming to the end of the hallway, and after the three men had gotten onto the elevator, CJ put her hands on her hips and leaned tentatively closer to Danny. Her eyes were full of remorse, and her lips were twisted into a nervous frown. "I owe you an apology."  
  
        Danny nodded firmly, his eyes strong. "Yes. Yes, you do."  
  
        CJ took a deep breath. "I was wrong. I jumped to conclusions. I assumed something without check the facts. I said some very harsh things to you that aren't true. I was full of undue anger, and I am very sorry. I hope this won't affect our friendship."  
  
        Danny studied her expression and crossed his arms over his chest. "Our friendship?"  
  
        "Yeah," CJ said shyly, her lashes fluttering as she dipped her eyes. "Danny, this was bad. If we keep exploring this thing," CJ gestured between their bodies, "I think something even worse will happen."  
  
        Danny's eyes twinkled as he tried to ignore her serious topic of conversation. "Like another fully-clothed plunge into a pool? I have to tell you, CJ, that was pretty hot."  
  
        CJ sighed with frustration. "Danny, did you hear what I just said?"  
  
        "Yeah, I heard you." Danny snapped back to reality and cocked his head. He had a look of defeat written over his face, and before CJ could feel her heart crack, Danny's words broke into her whirling thoughts. "CJ, I'm in love with you. I know that might sound ridiculous under the circumstances - we haven't know each other all that long, but I always said I'd know The One when I met her. But if you just want to be just friends, at this point, I guess there are no other roads that you'll agree to go down with me."  
  
        CJ swallowed hard, moisture rising in her eyes as she clenched her fists. "Danny," she hissed, fending off tears, "You know that it's not my feelings that are stopping me from this! It's my common sense! It should be yours! We work in serious fields! We're going to get in trouble!"  
  
        Danny put both hands up in retreat as he backed away from the tall, emotional woman. He wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms, but it was a double-edged sword, and he'd already pushed CJ too far. "It's fine, CJ. It's fine. I completely respect and understand what you're saying. And in the future, when things change - maybe we can pick up where we left off."  
  
        "Danny!" CJ cried out, panicked as he turned and began walking away. "Danny, wait!"  
  
        He didn't stop walking as he looked over his shoulder. "You can't have it both ways. I'm sorry."  
  
        CJ watched him walk down the hallway and into the stairwell, her vision blurred for the tears clouding her eyes. Fear shot through her veins as she began to question what she'd done; had she just blown her one chance at happiness? Was she ever again going to feel the same way as she'd felt when she was with Danny? CJ's stomach clenched as more tears spilled over onto her cheeks, and as she leaned against the wall in the hotel hallway, she wondered what was next. 


End file.
